Lena stood back and watched as Talos and Atleon 'spoke' to one another, feeling the tension mount but there was nothing she could really do. This had to be done, had to be spoken about and she was only there to ensure that a full on brawl didn't break out in front of all the survivors. That would look great, the leaders full on fighting with themselves. She thought it was going to come to blows as she watched Talos poke his finger into Atleon's chest but sighed when the man only returned with a rant. Words, fine. She watched as another Masked figured came up and began talking but added nothing to add fuel to the fire.

Just as she was going to relax slightly, movement caught her attention from the corner of her eye and saw the woman who had been offering help to Atleon draw back her arm to punch Talos. With a swift reaction, Lena grabbed the woman's arm before it made contact with her husbands face, kept a hard steady look at the woman as she finished what she had to say. She released her arm only when she got embarrassed when Mask was seen.

Just as she was about to say something to the woman, Armeno walked up, grabbing Atleon's attention and then Talos'. Oh. Great. She looked back to the woman, keeping an eye on the boy and glared at her. "Lay a hand on my husband, insulted or not, and I will strike you so hard you couldn't see straight for a week." She warned, glancing to Talos for a moment, the air was thick with tension and it was making her agitated.

“Oh… well, I wondered why it dinae have any fun stuff gaarn on,” Hone said lamely, chewing on one claw like she always did when she got embarrassed or nervous. How was she to know what had been going on in the west; she had been in the east for a while, and then before that up near Guardian’s Peak, doing what Elites generally did. News came in slowly, and the naïve young lash dragon wasn’t one to take much interest in it when it did arrive. Things that happened the other side of the island didn’t affect her personally, which made hunting down chocolate biscuits or laying a trap for one of the other Elites a much more important thing for he to be doing.

Now she knew things were going to affect her though, she listened closely, trying to remember the name “Talos”. She would probably need it later, either when reporting back to the leader of the Elite patrol she was currently working with, or when talking to the man himself- if she managed to find him, and he wasn’t too busy. She saw Measle’s rider looking towards a group of people, but didn’t know if they were his friends, or Talos and some of his friends, or just a random bunch of people who just looked interesting. That certainly was a given- two had wings and another looked rather battered, which only served to back up Jackdaww’s words about the camp being for refugees. She lingered near to Jackdaww and Measle as they came to a halt, twisting her paws together.

“So uhm… tha’ don’t look geet good,” she said, noticing the tall man’s awkward posture and bending down to look at his leg. “Mayhap y’should gar an’ ask someone ‘bout it, they could give you a plaster or summat.” She tested out a small smile, her ears perking up hopefully. She knew it wasn’t a very helpful comment, but she was starting to feel quite out of place- and more people seemed to have appeared from nowhere and were now watching her with that horrible reproachful look that she really didn’t like being turned on her.

{OOC: Zayela is speaking to Tatsu and then Jackdaww. Dorloan is still talking to Tegan.}

Zayela flew quickly towards the refugee camp; Tatsu was right there must be injured people here after that bloody battle at Racksom. “Blood you say Tatsu? If that’s the case we must make haste. I can use my healing magic where it’s needed, and you can practice your blood magic.” She shot a smile in his direction. “Just don’t get to risky and overstep what you think you can do. Wouldn’t want any of those poor people any more hurt that they already are now would we Tatsu?” Zayela would continue flying after Tatsu answered. She would see a dragon, with an obviously wounded wing, and its rider leaning his weight off of one leg. She would land next to them and speaks in a pleading tone. “Sir that leg looks like it needs medical attention. My name is Zayela and I can heal you if you would just allow me to take a look at your leg and any other injuries you might have.”

“Nice to meet you Tegan,” he glanced in the direction of her gaze. The autumn dragon was a beautiful sight to behold, even in its beat up state. Dorloan turned his eyes toward this Talos that Tegan spoke of. It was as is she said, he was in a heated argument with several other people at the moment. It would be a terrible thing for those figures of authority to resort to blows after this battle. “The battle must have taken its toll on all of these people, you included.” He motioned at the ankle she was keeping her weight off of. “No matter how stubborn you want to be about it that ankle needs to be set in a cast and healed before you further damage it by walking on it.” He looked back at the Autumn Dragon and then to Tegan. “Please, allow me to help you. I know there are other people in this camp that need healing but you are the first I came upon.” He awaited her answer patiently.

She didn’t know how long had past since she had woken up. Hours maybe. Either way, she hadn’t moved from the spot she stood in. Nothing interesting had happened, nothing she dared to think about and no one she dared to talk to. She didn’t really know where to go from here. She doubted anyone did. Where did you go from utter annihilation and now abandonment? The weak minded people probably wouldn’t get over this defeat, not ever. She credited the people who were putting on brave faces to pull them through the days and pull them through the work of cleaning up. But then again, who didn’t have a brave face on at this time?

Sighing inwardly, she turned around to look over her shoulder. There seemed to some sort of noise coming from not too far away. Now that she thought about it, it was more than just noise. It sounded like an argument. Great. Just what the people needed at a time like this. She half wanted to shout out and ask if anyone else wanted to dampen the mood and hurtle us all further into a doomed future.Narrowing her eyes, she focused on the grouped figures. One was obviously not human, hence the large wings. Now she came to think of it, that was probably Talos. So Talos was in a bad mood. She hadn’t ever seen him in a good one come to think of it. Turning around, she focused her energy into picking out who the other people were. A cloaked figure. Nope, no idea who that was. An elf, probably Armeno. Another figure caught her attention. He looked rather put out and somewhat a mess.As the blurred image moved against the dull background, she caught a face that made something inside of her flicker.Atleon!

By all the bloody elements… another hooded person? Correction: Another hooded person offering their special brand of 'help'. Who just walked up to arguing men and offered to throw money at the problem with no strings attached? Bewildered as he was by the sudden intrusion from the masked man, Talos couldn't even start his train of thought again before Atleon cut across him, taking the humble position of a man wrongly accused. 'No, in fact, I'm not done!' he thought with a bite of acid, but let the prince have his words, his jaw tightening with all of the question and really had a very simple answer: Because nobody else would do it. And when it was all done, Atleon had the balls to give him an order and continue on once again like he didn't even exist, like all of this could be swept under the rug and forgotten. As if simply using that royal tone would make the injustice of the situation go away.

The input that Armeno decided to give (completely unasked for as it was) totally took the wind from Talos' sails, and he was sure that he was staring at the horse-riding elf with his mouth open, a completely flabbergasted look on his face. Was he… was he blaming them for the appearance of the Surahinians? That was just… idiocy. So completely dumbstruck by the turn of events, he didn't even notice the scraggly elf (who he'd completely forgotten about for the past span of seconds) taking a swing at him, and looked over his shoulder to see Lena standing between him and the woman. Huh! With friends like that, who needed enemies! Hooded people! Hooded women especially!

"Thanks Lena." He said quietly to his wife, eying the elf woman and made a mental note to keep an extra eye on this one. Saying you had good intentions and actually having them were entirely two different things. Something he'd found out the hard way nearly at the cost of his own life. Turning back to the argument, he leveled a glare at Armeno. "Who even are you?" He asked, though not in quite such a literal way. He had fought briefly with the horse-riding elf during the Racksom battle and knew that the man possessed some skills and a more or less level head, but his opinion of the man had been soured by recent events, to say the least. "You come out of nowhere, riding from outside the city gates completely unaware of what's goin' on, an' next I see you you've got that woman and things are just peachy. Until she near killed me from behind. Are you working for Zartear? Are you a spy? Was that witch your cohort, and you were just trying' to get behind the lines an' put an end to the resistance, eh? Make it easier on your bloody liege lord? And why do you think I was even in charge in the first place?" He asked both of the men, since they seemed to be of the opinion that Talos had fashioned himself as the almighty leader of all of the Dragons Cove forces. He could laugh for days about the very idea.

"I'm a dirt farmer from Turich. I wound up in Racksom because some bloody great blue dragon dropped in an' told us that the Defenders needed help. So I came to help. But there weren't any defenders in Racksom. Your Council-" Talos emphasized the word strongly, giving each man a pointed glare "-are the ones who didn't send an army. Your Council's the ones that didn't send the Elites, or reinforcements or nothin'! It was us common folks who were scared to loose their homes that fought back, not your Council! I fought in Racksom because I have a baby girl back at home that'd I'd give me life to protect from Zartear. An' when I saw that we weren't gonna win, I tried to get everyone out because some of those men that died back in the city had family too. You're the one that told the farmers to stay Atleon, not me. And for some reason I thought that you could pull us outta it. I'll never make that mistake again, I swear on my soul I won't."

He let his angered gaze linger on the prince for a second longer, then flicked his gaze to Armeno. "The Guardians?" He snorted once. "One of 'em showed up. Showed up, an' then left us. Even the Guardians abandoned Racksom. If they can't fight the Surahinians, who can, eh? The Council gave up on us, an' the Elites never came. You an' all your strategy near got us all killed. If we wanna win back our homes, then it looks like we're gonna have to do it ourselves, 'cuz obviously we can't rely on you and your Council."

((OOC: Tegan is talking to Dorloan. Mask is talking to Rose and the group of them. Tatsu is talking to Zayela and then Measle and Hone.))

Tegan’s eyes lingered on Talos and Atleon. For the hundredth time she found herself cursing that little girl with her dragon. That pair was the reason she’d been injured in the first place. They’d been underestimated, and both she and Lyrian had paid for it. She sighed as her green emerald eyes flickered back to Dorloan. “And you too,” she added. She felt Lyrian getting impatient in her head and reached back mentally to sooth her dragon. ‘You must relax Lyr. They’re not trying to heal you, I promise. And you’re making a mess of your scales by sending all that mud around.’ Tegan laughed slightly as the only response from Lyrian was a snort and a breeze of fresh crisp autumn air being blasted towards the bridge. Calmed by the time it reached them.

As for the offer Dorloan made, Tegan shifted unsure. On the one hand, yes she did need her wounds looked at, but on the other, she was an elf. As such a creature her healing speed was far longer than that of humans. Looking around she sighed and gaze in. “Alright Dorloan,” she said, looking defeated slightly. She really did hate admitting she needed someone else’s help, but after that battle, she was more comfortable around people. Lyrian? Still not so much. “Only because my stubborn dragon over there,” she gestured to Lyrian, “won’t let me heal her till I am.” She looked back to thinning stream of travelers that still dropped in every once in a while, and then returned her gaze to Dorloan. He looked much like an elf, but he sure didn’t feel like one.

Mask’s first response was confusion. That was, till he remembered he did indeed still have his mask covering his face. “Apologies,” he said as he reached up and pulled the top half off and the bottom half down. He tucked the top half away into his cloak before pushing his hood back. Of course, this made two things more noticeable. The bow and arrows on his back, and the sword and hilt at his side. He smiled warmly, only because that was how he was gazed, and gave a small bow to the men and women. He even relaxed more when he recognized the elf, Rose. He chuckled at the small fight between the women and cocked his head at Rose. “Been staying out of trouble,” he said softly to her, a mischievous smile on his face. He was more or less stalling, not really wanting to interrupt farther than he had, however, something did catch his attention.

“Wait, none of you are a real army?” His eyes traveled the camp and for once occurred to him how the battle seemed to play out, and how these people acted. No, they weren’t fighters, nor warriors. They all looked like poor peasant folks. How could they go marching into battle without proper instruction, or at least knowledge and skills? He looked back at Atlean. “Alright men,” he said, not sure how much he wanted to involve himself in this. “Wouldn’t it maybe be better to plan, or maybe start some training before you argue? If the men are standing around and see this, how many will still want to fight? If they’re working on something, and then you two start yelling, it’d be a safer bet you don’t lose respect from your warriors.” He used the term warriors lightly. “As for questions to follow of my intent, I’d say they’re welcomed. As for an offer, I have more money than I care to own and am willing to throw it around. As well as skills you may require from me.” He felt safe saying that much, though he braced himself for a sharp reply or a new argument thrown at him.

Tatsu’s tail wagged harder in the air. Oh this would be good then. They could help get rid of pain, and heal people. He shivered as he chills and smiled brighter. He wanted to help so bad, he often did, he just wasn’t very good at it. When Zayela warned about hurting more, he sighed softly to himself. He was often annoyed at how little he knew of his own Blood Magic. It felt like it should come naturally to him, but he’d been alone for so long that he’d never been taught how to use any of it. On the other hand though, he could practice and do his best to help. “I promise not to hurt anyone,” he said happily.

It was then that Zayela started to head towards the ground. Tatsu circled in the air for a moment longer before he two landed. He circled towards the ground slowly, not wanting to land in a puddle of mud. A seemingly impossible feat with how muddy the roads were. He sighed as he gave up and landed in the dries spot he could find. Later thankful it was close to Measle. He looked out towards the camp, and then seemed to jump back to reality when he realized that Zayela was speaking to the dragon’s rider. Oh, so he should offer help to the dragons? Ok! “Umm…” he said shyly. “Excuse me, my name is Tatsu, and well, I can help anyone who needs a heal too.” He wagged his tail slowly to show he was friendly as he folded his wings onto his back. His eyes looked from Hone to Measle.

When Armeno suddenly joined their little group and began his overly large speech about how everyone had made mistakes, how they had been slacking and basically not living up to his personal standards whereas he kept on top of things at all times, the prince almost lost it, but when the elf then continued to accuse them of being the reason why Zartear had marched on Dragon’s Cove in the first place, he was just as dumbstruck as the avian.

Slowly but steadily, Atleon’s bad temper began to grow and he was starting to have a hard time controlling his emotions. The more people joined his initial conversation with Talos, the more there were accusations and pieces of ‘good’ advice flying about, the more he wanted to scream out in frustration. Of course, they all had a point, but neither of them had actually been present from the beginning it seemed. Neither of them had actually seen the start of it all but merely stumbled in and now thought they could wipe their hands clean with a “you should have done this, you should have done that”. It was so damn easy for everyone to point fingers and tell other people off, but maybe they should start with themselves, and just maybe they should think before they opened their overly big mouths. And then the elf woman wanted to pick a fight with Talos but got interrupted by Lena, and the prince rolled his eyes at the probably oncoming catfight. If such was the case, he was going to have to yell after all.

For a brief moment however, he thought it was hilarious how quickly Talos had suddenly come to shut up, but on this particular allegation by Armeno, he agreed completely with the winged man. This accusation was outrageous! He let Talos have this one, the avian having a point to make, a point the prince was willing to fully support even though he might not agree with Talos on many other things. Nodding along, he merely accentuated Talos’s speech with a “yes” or “agreed” here and there, not seeing a reason in adding something more. He was not too pleased however, when Talos began to affront him anew. He was growing tired of this. He was growing tired of the fact that nobody understood or wanted to understand that even royalty was not almighty, he simply could not be in two places at once!

The wish to smash his fist into the avian’s face was growing harder to resist by the second. The urge was so strong that Atleon literally had to ball his hands into fists and dig his nails into his palms to remind himself not to flip. They all needed to vent their frustrations, but Atleon refused to let his anger get the better of him. The more the avian talked however, the more the prince’s anger began to evaporate and defeat was starting to take its place. What Talos was saying was true, well partially at least, and Atleon knew that the fight would be taken to such levels as the avian was now complaining about. The prince let the man talk, it needed out but this discussion was not over yet; however, more people kept interrupting before Atleon could properly reply.

Some people at least were still willing to do as they were asked, and Mask quickly excused himself for not having removed his mask prior to talking to them and immediately did so when reminded of the fact. The conversation between the man and the woman in the cloak seemed friendly enough and they knew each other from before. Neither of them struck Atleon as people who would quickly betray someone, but he could not be certain, not quite yet; they both seemed strange in their own way, though the prince was not willing to slap away a helping hand purely based on ‘odd’. The one thing this masked man was right about however, which he had been thinking himself for quite a while now, was the fact that it would really not bode well for anyone if they all openly started a mass-fight. However, he did reply: “Do you think a whole city would be inhabited solely by warriors? Of course most of these people are not part of an actual army.” His tone was cutting and it was hopefully going to be enough to shut the man up. Just to make certain however, he wanted to get him out of his sight for the time being. There would be time enough later on to talk to this man, Mask.

“Lena,” Atleon addressed the avian woman, a hint of a smile playing on his lips, “would you be so kind as to please assign a few trustworthy men, to accompany this woman and this man,” he indicated the two cloaked people, “to the lady’s place so they can fetch some provisions for our people. It would be greatly appreciated.” He hoped that Lena would get the hint and not go herself. The only thing he wanted to do was actually provide some food for the people and get rid of unnecessary ears when he was going to continue his talk with Talos.

“Before we continue this, Armeno, where is the chest?” Atleon looked at the fuming elf and wondered why he was getting all worked up about. If what he said was true, the man was not even from Dragon’s Cove. As much as the prince appreciated other people’s concern, there was no need for the elf to work himself up like this and there certainly was no need for him to then hear everything he and Talos had to discuss.

“Talos,” Atleon then finally looked back to the avian man. “We both know that many things have gone wrong in Racksom, and that many things will still go wrong in the future. But one thing you have to really understand here. Army or not, trained fighters or not, the people who will always suffer from a war, are the little people. The simple farmers. The common folks, as you call them. The ones that now stood against an enemy much larger than them. It is those little people who will be able to turn a fight around. It is those little people who will have to fight, no matter what. It is those little people who will stand by an army, by a group of elites, a group of dragons and lend their support wherever is necessary, whether they can actually live up to it or not. It is their will and their conviction which will make them fight. It is exactly those thoughts which make an army strong, their sense of peace, their notion for protecting what is important to them, not an army paid to ransack one town after the other. If the people of Dragons’ Cove do not fight for their own land, for their homes, for their families, then Zartear will march right over them as though they were nothing but critters.” Atleon took a small breath after this before he continued. “As far as the Council is concerned, you don’t have to get into a rage over them. They apparently seem to have deserted Racksom. They will be found, they will be punished accordingly. If they did not see fit to provide one of their own cities, one of their stones, with protection, they are no good to us, cruel as such a statement may be. We cannot afford to have people fight on our side, who we cannot trust. Neither can we afford to turn away those who are willing to offer a helping hand in times of need. We need to make the effort and try to trust the newcomers. Whether you like it or not. You are not much more than a newcomer either, and yet you have my trust. So maybe you should make an effort towards others.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The woods are lovely, dark and deep.But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep.

As Rose threw a punch at Talos, Armeno moved to intercept her- however, his faster reactions were of no use when Lena was standing so much closer to the woman. He gave the other elf a warning look.‘Much as I would hate to harm one of my race when there are so few of us remaining, I will not be able to ignore you if you insist on attacking the leaders of DDC.’ Ignoring her now, he turned back to Talos and stood through the avian’s retaliation. Atleon’s question was simple and far calmer than anything the first man had said, so Armeno addressed him first.‘It’s safe. I’ve buried it.’ After this, Armeno took in a deep breath, determined not to let his temper get the better of him again. Deciding to answer Talos’ questions literally, he began.

‘I am Armeno, of the Narandal family- or, as I would normally say to a human, Armeno Narandal. I do not come from Dragons Cove, no, but I came here years ago and I lived here for a time. I did what I suppose would be called mercenary work, though I would only fight for a cause I believed in, unlike some.’ His tone clearly conveyed his feelings towards those would who be hired by anyone who would pay. ‘After some work I did defending a town against raiders, I was offered a position as an Elite, which I turned down on the ground that I was not sure whether I would be returning to the land I was born in or not. I...’ He frowned, his voice faltering slightly as he thought about the cause of him leaving Dragons Cove. ‘I did indeed leave Dragons Cove later, but I found that life with the elves felt dull to me after years of being on the move and fighting, which is not the life I lived back in the land where I was born. So I returned to Dragons Cove, to find that it had been invaded and that the defenders were being defeated as easily as if they had run themselves into the swords of the Surahnians.’ He paused. ‘In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if that had happened once or twice.

‘But back to the point, I am not working for Zartear, nor am I a spy. She is no witch, nor my cohort. At least, not anymore. I was trying to assist the resistance rather than put an end to it, and I have no liege lord. I think you were in charge because you were the only one available. And that may not be your fault, but that doesn’t mean you led well, because you didn’t. You led better than many I have seen before, but you were far from the best. I do not claim to know all the circumstances, because I was obviously not there, but you should have prepared. I appreciate that K-Static will not seem at all trustworthy to you at this moment, and I do not know why she was fighting for the Surahnians, but our background is complicated. And as soon as she betrayed me, I left her there in Racksom, because I have to put a whole island before my own feelings. I always put my cause before myself.

‘I know perfectly well that a single Guardian appeared and then left, Talos. I was the one who rode with that Guardian’s rider and then brought her back here. But I did not ask if the Guardians were there; if you had listened to me, I asked where they were when they should have been fighting with the people. I asked the same question of the Elites, who obviously never came. I never mentioned the Council; I have no reason to suppose that they’re any more useful than they were when I left.’ He gave a snort before continuing. ‘They are most certainly not my Council. Another thing to prove that neither of you were listening particularly well to my words is that I never even implied that it was your fault that the Surahnians attacked. It was your fault that the attack was successful, because your defences may as well have not existed for all the good they did.

‘Atleon, the fact that the ‘little people’ need to fight makes no difference to the fact that it does no good at all for them to wait to be slaughtered. They stood no chance of holding Racksom or even of significantly delaying the Surahnians, and so all those who died died needlessly, and because of you. I do not know what experience you have of fighting, but I would hope that you will not make such a mistake again. However, what you is true. You need help. Do not accept it like a fool, but accept it. I know that I am another such newcomer, at least as far as the two of you are concerned, but I know far more of battle already than it is likely either of you ever will. I would not ask you to relinquish your leadership to me- I would never do that- but I do ask that you at least let me help you as best I can, because you need it.’ His seemingly endless speech finished- at least until he got another response- Armeno watched Atleon and Talos to see who would speak first.

"He shouldn't be throwing around insults then. As for your rebels I have a question: Anyone here know if they've overtaken Bolarf yet?" She hesitated to state her reason for asking, but went ahead anyway. "Even before I moved out here we were having concerns that they'd spread north and take our city. I haven't heard from my parents in more than 75 years no matter how many letters I write. For the moment distrust me all you like but odds are my parents are dead. If that is the case," she paused and removed probably ten different weapons from her person. "You'll need a place to house the sick and injured, someone to train those able to fight, food, and weapons. I'll be glad to help any way I can all you need to do is ask, and be polite." She got onto her horse and looked at Lena. "That man of yours isn't worth the time of day I'd suggest a divorce in the near future."

Lena gave a small nod to Talos, happily there to be by his side and she knew he was aware of it. She leveled a gaze as yet another cloaked man approached and seemed to know this elf witch. He was being oddly gentle in his way of speaking and rather polite which put her at ease...just slightly. Things were quickly falling apart and this really wasn't the place for this.

When Atleon addressed her she couldn't help notice the faint smile that he offered to her and she nodded in response. Wanting nothing more than to break up this fight and get onto more important things. No one had the energy for this. She looked to a few of the man hanging around and then her eyes set on Mask. "You guys.." She nodded to them and then Mask, "Go with her." She instructed speaking of the elf woman, turning her attention back on to the group of men.

That was of course, until Rose made the comment to her about Talos. A sudden and dark emotion ran through her and she turned a cold look on the elf woman. "You've no business to speak ill of someone worth twice of yourself, she elf." Lena hissed, turning her body to completely face her, ready to run a blade through her gut if needed. And here she wanted to try to stop Talos from doing this very same thing to Atleon. "Get out of my sight and do something useful like you preach."

She gave a cruel smile. "Fine. When someone pisses you off you take them out. I shall now practice what I preach!" She got down and made to punch the avian in the face. "You wouldn't know worth if it ripped out your larynx!" Again she aimed but instead tried to pull at her hair. "You pox-marked bawdy wench!" Of course sadly she'd now lost her composure entirely and was now making an utter fool of herself by using her vast vocabulary in order to insult someone she hardly knew. Deep down she wished someone would shut her up but she was enraged at this point and not a whole lot would stop her. In essence this featherbrained overly-defensive woman had quite effectively painted Rose's world in bloody red.

The last thing Lena was really expecting was for the woman to leap from her horse and go after her. She hardly missed the first punch, getting pinned down by the woman now pulling at her hair. Honestly?! Even if she was a woman, Lena didn't fight like one. Grabbing the woman by the shoulders, Lena pushed her off her and gave a kick to her stomach to get her further away. "Get off me you crazy bitch!" She drew back her arm, going to punch her holding back for only a second. "You have one more chance before I beat the sense into you." She growled, standing from where she had been knocked down and waiting to hear her answer.

"Feel free to try!" She coughed as the kick made contact, but glared at her and began swinging again and again at her face. "Least you fight like a man!" She tried to get close enough to strangle her but that failed when the blow to her stomach finally hit home. She steadied herself after a fraction of a moment and coughed. "Hell-hated strumpet." She ignored the obvious pain in her gut and brought her leg up to kick the woman. Her mind was now starting to calm, but that meant she was losing adrenaline and fairly soon she'd be on the ground curled up in massive pain. 'Don't you dare fall or you won't get up anytime soon.' she thought.

Lena wasn't ready for the continuous punches, dodging as best as she could, leaning back but had left herself open for the kick the woman returned to her. It connected with her stomach and she staggered back just a bit but grinned when she saw the woman starting to tire. "Come now? Tired already?" Lena growled, this fight was so useless. "Stop this." She warned once more, feeling suddenly sick to her stomach. That blow probably wouldn't have effected her so if they weren't running on zero energy.

Crossing his arms, Talos leaned back on his heels slightly, studying Atleon as his speech waxed, all smooth and articulate like. Snorting, he gave a small nod. "Fine speech." He relented, giving the man credit where it was due for his obvious oratory abilities. Whether he meant it or not was something to be found out later, but Armeno decided that it was time to add sticks to the fire. Talos listened to the elf's self-history, not particularly interested and did his best not to roll his eyes and mime the man speaking with his hand in a completely juvenile manner. When the accusations were turned on again however, he felt his temper rise and pointed a finger to interrupt. "No you just wait a bloody second-!" His impending rant was stopped before Armeno even finished laying the verbal hurt on Atleon, and he turned to see Lena scuffling with that damned hooded elf woman.

His pulse was in his ears the moment he saw Rose swinging for Lena, all his protective instincts awakening despite his tiredness. Turning abruptly from the conversation between Atleon and Armeno that he had so hotly been a part of earlier, he sprinted at the elf woman, lowering his shoulder at the last second and blatantly ran straight into her, knocking her to the ground and put his knee in the center of her back. "Stay down if you wanna keep your head!" He hissed to the woman, slamming his hand on the back of her shoulder, the other going to the hilt of his short sword and drew it. "Lena, are you hurt?" He called over his shoulder, but didn't take his eyes from the elf.

She felt broken, no feeling in her body for a few brief moments, just the knowledge that she felt like a shattered mirror. She barely registered voices around her as she realized she was pinned, face in the mud. She wheezed slightly trying to get air into her lungs. It didn't matter that she had some painful injuries, she knew her fighting days were put at a standstill. She tried to form words and struggled to move so she could breathe, but in the end gave up and lay motionless but still alive. "Just a broken china doll." she choked out. She was already at zero energy when she got there, and her adrenaline fueled rage had vanished by this point. She knew her parents would hate to see her like this, and she could only imagine what everyone else saw in her now, most of all Akar. She waited for him, Talos was the name that stuck out most to her, to release her so she could get up and leave as soon as possible.

The pain in her torso only got worse and her first thought was that something was broken or deeply bruised. Unknowingly she had started to cry, not out of embarrassment or pain, but shame. Thinking of her parents and what they'd say to her now had her a total wreck. She used what remaining strength she had to lift her head and say one small sentence. "I can't. . .breathe. . .release me. . .please. . ." With that small sentence said, and her strength completely gone, her world went black. She could barely breathe and tears still dripped down her face, even when she wasn't conscious. Indeed she did look like a china doll: but also a ghastly shell of her former self.

“No, it’s not exactly good, Hone. I think it’s broken – swords tend to do that. Don’t worry about it though.” Jackdaww said, trying to smile again. However, Tatsu’s offer came as a great relief.

“Healing? That might be helpful. Are you any good with broken bones?” Measle asked the new dragon, not recognising his species. His broken wing was throbbing, and although he knew it would heal well enough, he would have liked the use of it sooner, and as for Jackdaww, he wasn’t about to carry him for the next few months.

Jackdaww nodded in agreement, and shuffled around to face the newcomers, still holding his leg limply. The slash in his cheek just needed binding again, and maybe a stitch or two, but the leg wound was going to be a problem. He had no real hope of it being healed, however – he’d never trusted magic to do something as important as that before, and even if either of them /did/ have the ability to heal, he wasn’t entire sure it would work. However, if anyone was offering... he wasn’t about to refuse.

“What’re your names, anyway? We’re all on the same side now, so there’s no harm in getting to know people – or dragons.” Measle chuckled to himself, directing the question at Tatsu mianly. He was going to make the best of the refugee camp, and that started with getting to know everyone there. He refused to let the miserable weather and situation dampen his mood.

Whatever the elf was planning to do next, it wasn't going to happen as she watched as Talos literally tackled her into the ground and pinned her there to keep her from making any more attacks. She sighed a bit, "I'm fine." She replied to Talos, looking the elf woman over as she began to cry and then shortly pass out. How on Earth did she go from spitting with anger, dead tired, crying to passing out just by being kicked in the stomach and then getting pinned down? Lena hadn't the answer or the will to care enough to search for one.

She rubbed her stomach gently feeling a bit sick but otherwise fine and then looked back to Atleon. "What do you want to do with her?" She asked, not really wanting to keep the bipolar elf alive but there was a twinge of guilt killing someone with so little power. She walked over to Talos, putting a hand on his shoulder to try to relax him slightly and show that she was actually okay.

Hone’s head snapped up from peering at Jackdaww to Tatsu as he landed nearby, a bright grin spreading across her face at the sight of another new person. Two new people- how exciting! She never thought at the start of the day that she would be meeting so many new and interesting people; never thought she would end up coated in a thick layer of mud and being shouted at either, but there was always a down side to the up. At least they hadn’t resorted to throwing mud at her… now that would really have been rude.

“Howzah!” she said in a friendly voice as the lifeblood introduced himself, fluttering one muddy wingtip in greeting and accidentally splattering mud across everyone present. “I’m Hone,” she announced, grinning even more widely at the two new dragons. “An’ I’m a lash Elite, if y’don’t know. But I don’t need no healin’, thanks f’the offer. T’rest o’my patrol are stuck along t’road, the mud gets geet bad down there an’ we had a cart, an’… oh, y’probably don’t want t’hear. Aaan’ y’probably don’t like me now I’ve said I’m an Elite, didseh?” Her head fins drooped marginally and she shifted slightly, bracing herself for whatever barrage of insults and/or mud that might happen to come her way.

Her wariness at being pelted with even more mud was suddenly disrupted by… well, the disruption that the group that (of all people) Hone was waiting to see, as one leapt at another, then was almost immediately taken down into the mud by a third. Her mouth dropped open in a gape- was the world really falling to pieces so fast?- before she remembered who (and what) she was.“Hey! Y’all jus’ quit y’fightin’ afore I come over there an’ sort y’all out geet good an’ proper like!” she shouted, flaring her head fins angrily. “I ain’t scared o’sittin’ on you, if you’re gaarn t’keep behavin’ like baby lashies, ahreet?” She rolled her eyes, shaking her head in despair like she was above wrestling in the mud. If she had the chance to, it probably would have been quite fun to try it out- but no, she was setting an example, she was a good Elite. If they were going to continue to fight though, she would just go over there and break it up. Mud or no mud involved. After all, she was coated enough as it was already.

Zayela listened intently to Hone, the elite. She wasn’t quite sure why the lash dragon would think that she had any reason to dislike her. “Now Hone, why wouldn’t I like you? We just met and so far you have given me no reason to do such a thing.” She smiled a toothy dragon smile in Hone’s direction. “My name is Zayela and I’m a tear dragon. It’s a good thing I showed up here, because from the look of this place,” Zayela turned her head and swept the camp, “you people need my healing magic. As for why I’m here I was just….” Zayela was cut off by the sound of a fight behind her. By the time she had turned around to see what was going on the fight was already over. An avian was over some woman while a female avian stood by the male’s side. There was actually quite a large group of people gathered there, Zayela wondered why. No matter, this man needed healing. “Well that was interesting. Let me take care of that cut on your face sir.” Zayela reached up to hear eye with a single claw and wiped a tear she had produced onto it. “This may sting a tad bit.” She placed the tip of her claw at the edge of the gash and spread the tear along the length of it with her claw. The gash, being such a minor injury, quickly healed and was gone, like it had never even happened. Zayela leaned her head down closer to the man’s injured leg. She squinted at it to see if the break was clearly visible or not. She couldn’t tell with the pants in the way. She would have reached out with her claw, but she stopped herself not wanting to hurt this man anymore. “Hmmm….I needs your pants to be out the way so I can examine your leg,” she said looking up.

The smell of autumn filled the air when Tegan laughed. Dor turned to see that it had come from Tegan’s dragon. How refreshing that breeze had been. Dorloan loved the autumn air; the way the trees changed color…..Tegan speaking snapped him back to reality. He saw her scanning him and wondered what she could be thinking. Taking a step closer he kneeled next to Tegan’s injured leg. “I’m going to very gently move my hand along your leg to find the break, if that’s ok with you.” If Tegan allowed it Dor would slowly move his hand up her leg starting at her ankle and say, “tell me when the pain is the worst.” Once she did he would stop and assess the wound.

Sandy slowly began to make her way over the muddy grass towards the small gathering. It seemed every minute more and more people were joining the scene. Either that, or she was just paying more attention to things. She was still quite a way away so she was still pretty much guessing at who the people could be. As she moved closer however, two distinctive, no wait, two pairs of distinctive wings came to reveal Talos and Lena. As she came ever closer still, the familiar face that was first just a hunch, morphed into the face of Atleon and near to him, Armeno. There were some other people there two, a cloaked figure being one. Maybe she would recognise them, she didn’t know. She still wasn’t close enough to tell.

Just when she was roughly fifty metres away, two figures seemed to collide as one took a swing for the other. At that moment, everyone seemed to jump into action. What were they doing? Starting another bloody war? Before she could even register what was happening or what was about to happen the avian quickly lunged to protect his wife and rugby tackled the other to the floor. It was a few seconds later when Sandy found herself stood a few metres away from Atleon and the others.The entire atmosphere was tense, not just because they had obviously just lost a battle, but it was as if someone could cut the air with a knife. It was like everyone could jump at each other’s throats at any moment.“Has no one told fairy boy here the battle ended?” She muttered sarcastically and hoarsely come to think of it.

He was… surprised… to say the least. He had expected the woman to try and fight him off, which is why he'd drawn his sword in the first place. But the pitiful surrender and subsequent passing out had him caught completely off guard. It was only when Lena's hand touched his shoulder that he was finally brought to his senses, and he looked up to her with a confused expression before getting the sense in his head to sheathe his sword. Cautiously, he stood and turned the woman on her back, examining her muddied tear-strewn face briefly before deeming that no, he hadn't killed her entirely on accident, as had been his first worry. He was now at something of a loss as to what to do.

Briefly he placed his hand on Lena's shoulder, noticing the sick look to her face and squeezed it gently before turning his attention back to Armeno and Atleon. "What do we do with her?" He asked, gesturing to the cloaked elf on the ground, and for the first time noticing Sandy. He only recognized her vaguely from the battle-haze that had clouded his mind during the events of Racksom, so wasn't entirely aware of her importance or standing. "I might not trust 'er entirely, but that ain't no assassin. I seen one-eyed piss-drunk pirates that did a better job at murder." He resisted the strong temptation to poke her with the tip of his boot when he looked down at Rose again, but only just barely.

Tegan nodded her head. "I can actually help you out if you want to know my exact injuries," she said shifting her weight on her one leg slightly enough for it to be a different position. She did exactly feel comfortable showing a weakness, but if he was offering to heal her, she really shouldn't refuse. She sighed and gave up. "My ankle, and rib, and the cut in my side, though the last one is much better." She pointed out each place that she said, even showing which rib she meant, though she didn't put pressure on the rib at all. She didn't want to do that at all. "And by all means," she said a little embarrassed, "do what you must to make this easier on you."

By now Sorrahkin had made her way through the trees, and after receiving orders, Mask nodded and did a bow respectfully. He ran a hand through his hair and made sure his cloak's hood was tight over his head. He didn't mind the rain so much, but he preferred to not have the inside of it soaked, especially because he was about to give it to his mare. He had turned his back on the fighting, though he winced at the cold tone Rose shot back. In fact, he had reached out to pet the horse's nose when he heard the fight break out behind him. Sorrahkin pranced unhappily at the commotion, and Mask sighed as he pulled his cloak off and settled it over his horse's back, before turning back to the group.

"Sir," he said turning back to Atleon. "Rose is a little... rough, but she's saved my life a few times in the past." He walked over to Rose and knelt down. "Would you mind terribly if I took her out of your site? I have a place in mind to head to anyways to grab something from..." he stumbled a little over the last word, "home." With that said, Mask kept his gaze over the others, though he took a little more defensive stance while kneeling on the ground. Like hell he would let anyone touch her again. She'd gotten beat once, she wouldn't start something again, so he figured she'd learn her lesson. Sorrahkin came up besides Mask and snorted at the others. Ears pinned back. She read her master's position, even though he didn't have a threatening look on his face.

Tatsu's tail wagged behind him as he nodded his head in response to Measle question. "I can try my best. If I can't do it, I can do what I can and Zayela can finish it." His ears drooped. "I'm still not the best at my life blood magic." He looked at the ground then back up confused. "Oh," he said suddenly. "I'm Tatsu, I'm a life blood dragon. I wasn't actually in the fight, but I smelled the blood, so I figured you guys might need some help." His tail wagged slightly again. When Hone spoke, Tatsu turned his head in time to be hit in the face by mud. A sudden mood of depression hit him as he realized his perfect white fur was marred by mud now. He looked for a second like he wanted to cry, then he shook his head and cocked it as he turned back to Hone. "Why wouldn't I like you?" he asked confused.

He was quiet a moment. In which pretty much everyone else was as well, then suddenly asked. "What are Elites?" His ears perked as he kept his head cocked to the right. He was confused because it was true, he had to no clue who the elites were, nor anything about DDC or SR. How could he. Tatsu normally avoided groups of people. If he hadn't of found Zayela, he would have left already, too shy to offer any help. "Anyways, broken wing right?" he asked turning back to Measle cheerfully. He smiled and then shut his eyes focusing on Measle's wing. His magic didn't work like Zayela's. He would focus on the blood inside another person and bring what was needed, or create it inside them, in order to heal. This also meant he could harm like that, but he didn't have the heart to. "You may get a little light headed," he warned softly. A faint aura of red glowed around him and the affected area as his blood magic set to work. Thankfully, he knew enough to do this. And after a few moments, it would be done.

"ALLLLL BETTER!" he said happily. Then he sat down without thinking into the mud. He froze, his eyes looking down, and it was a few seconds later he started to cry. "I'm all muddy now!" he cried as tears fell from his eyes and into his white fur, soaking it further than the misting rain did.

Armeno’s speech got somewhat drowned out by the fight going on between the two women all of a sudden. Atleon preferred to leave the whole fiasco alone and just go do something else while they could beat their heads in for all he cared, but alas, he could not do such a thing. He suddenly had the awkward feeling of being thrown into a group of little children, all of which wanted to make their mark but had nothing important to say or do really. Strangely enough however, he began to appreciate Armeno’s talk. The elf did have a point and he was not afraid of putting other people back in their place after completely mishearing what the elf had said in the first place, whether it had been misheard on purpose or not. Nothing had happened the way it had supposed to in Racksom and the prince could repeat this as many times in his mind as he wanted to but it would in no way change the fact that everything had gone down the drain because nobody had assumed the responsibility for anything. It made him feel guilty for not having been there to prevent this from happening but there was nothing he could have done. Things had happened the way they had and it was too late now to dwell over things that could or should have been.

However, then, obviously, the elf had to start the blame game once more. Instead of actually talking in a constructive manner, he was now pointing fingers again. It was one part about being royalty that Atleon did not like in the least, everybody blamed him. For everything, whether it was his fault or not. He did not deny that he had mistakes, of course not, but he did not need to have it pointed out all the time. For the sake of not starting yet another argument however, Atleon decided to simply not comment further on this particular part of the elf’s speech, deftly ignoring especially the talk about relinquish leadership. The people would not understand if yet another being would try to lead them apart from Atleon and Talos, and thus he tried to move on from this to a more constructive conversation. Maybe this time he would even succeed.

Once again they were interrupted even before either Talos nor Atleon could reply to Armeno’s speech, though the prince had a feeling if Talos had been the first to reply, it would have turned back to their initial fighting, as the two women moved from verbally insulting each other to properly fighting, as far as the slapping and kicking could be considered fighting. In no time at all, Talos had intervened to protect his wife and had flattened the newcomer face first into the mud. As suddenly another voice trailed over to them, Atleon looked up towards the sound and his eyes fixed on the brightly coloured dragon who had spoken. This seemed to be the flash of red he had seen running through the camp upon his arrival. But who was this? A dragon for sure, but who? Intrigued, Atleon decided that he would inspect this being more closely.

First, he needed to deal with this situation however. Just as he was about to open his mouth to talk, a rather hoarse but sarcastic voice drifted over and Atleon’s eyes flew towards Sandy, a warm smile playing around his lips. He was glad that she was alright; the comment spoke for itself, really. He did not know her very well, but this seemed to be her way. “I’m glad to see you well, Sandy.” When he realised that ‘well’ might not be the best word to employ, he looked at her a little sheepish and shrugged.

Turning back towards the avian couple and the floored elf, whom Mask was now tending to, he finally said what he had wanted to say for quite a while: “Talos, I think you can safely release her. She is not going to lunge at Lena again in the near future. She got her lesson.” He chuckled lightly at Talos’ words and he had to agree. The woman did not have a lot of fight in her, not even to defend herself against someone pinning her own. Unless it was all an act, and the tears seemed to be rather honest, she would not be any danger to them. The fact that Mask had quickly run over to kneel by the elf woman and tried to plead for her cause seemed to enforce this opinion. He did not like the man’s stance however, but he would probably not have reacted any differently in the man’s position. At least he had a well-trained horse, a fact which spoke volumes about the man. “As for what to do with her,” he looked from Lena to Talos and down to the hooded people, “if her offer to help us still stands, I stay by my initial suggestion. Send a few good men along with her to her house to gather a few provisions for our people. You may of course still accompany her Mask, but some of our men will come along.” Any other discussion about her person, and about Mask for that matter, could be continued later on.

“Now, if you will excuse me for a second, there is a dragon I would quite like to know more about. We can continue our discussion in a second,” Atleon said and without waiting for the angry comments which were bound to rain down on his back for walking away from the group, he hurried over towards that reddish dragon, who had shouted over to them during the fighting. What kind of creature would meddle into other people fighting in such a manner way. There had to be something else involved. Or maybe Atleon was just wishful thinking. Either way, it would give him – hopefully – a small break from Talos and Armeno, at the same time giving him a small breather to regain his calm as his anger and frustration were still wrestling within to gain the upper hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The woods are lovely, dark and deep.But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep.

Scarcely a second passed after Armeno finished his latest talk before the women’s argument changed from verbal to physical as Rose launched herself off her horse. He took a step forwards to intervene, but before he could, Talos broke up the fight with somewhat excessive violence. When the female elf passed out, Armeno stared at her somewhat disbelievingly.‘I suppose we’ll have to-‘ he began in response to the avian’s question. He was soon cut off, however, as Mask threw himself onto the ground beside Rose and began to plead her case. He muttered an irritated curse in Elvish, not feeling any need to embellish on Atleon’s words, and turned away, leaving the man to deal with the elf he was apparently such good friends with.

The dragon who had yelled at them for fighting, however, interested him somewhat. She had an unusual accent he hadn’t heard before, he wasn’t sure that he recognised the breed- she looked a little like a sword dragon, but he didn’t think that was right- and he had no idea what a ‘lashie’ was. However, yet another person presently arrived, distracting him from the latest speaker as he sighed irritably. Did they have a sign floating above their heads saying ‘Come here’?

‘Hello, Sandy,’ he said, pleased enough to see the woman despite his annoyance with the excessive number of people gathering. When she spoke, though, his keen ears easily picked up the mutter and he shot her a disapproving look, frowning- Talos was in a bad enough mood already without snide comments worsening it. His own mood worsened considerably when Atleon swanned off for a nice chat with the brightly-coloured dragon who had yelled at Lena and Rose. What was the prince thinking? Now wasn’t the time to be exchanging pleasantries with those who weren’t actually barging into the conversation; judging by the human’s face while Armeno talked, he had actually been starting to get his point across and had been hoping that they might actually get somewhere. The elf sighed heavily and crossed his arms, staring impatiently after Atleon while waiting for him to return- though he didn’t doubt that Talos would have something more to say.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Subject: Re: (East side of Everbridge) You Sir, are an Idiot. (11th Board)

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Dragons' Cove

An island (that is more of a continent) that is completely cut off from the world it is placed in. If the foreigners are anything to go by, it may be the only innately magical part of the world, feeding out to other areas. It has a delicate balance, and its nature changes depending on the actions of its inhabitants.

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